On the question of whether AR14 would have taken teams from the Swiss/Italian border to Capetown and then back to Romania, my answer is "NO WAY". World Race Productions has shown an intelligent positioning of succeeding leg places throughout all the Amazing Race seasons. Even though some involve more than 5000 miles, they have never turned around and gone right next door to where they started.

Were those banners in the picture we saw at the entrance to Rhodes Memorial or at one of the University entrances?

They were at the entrance to Rhodes Memorial, which is just next to the exit of the University. Both are built on land bequeathed by Cecil John Rhodes. A lot of us don't like that link to the nasty legacy of people like Rhodes, but we're grateful that we have such a beautiful spot.

Oh, and i've mailed the film commission, so hopefully we'll have an answer sometime about who those flags belong to.

Cape Town may be a later destination. Those flags sure look like the real thing.

In Locarno:

Quote

From: SwissMiss08

I first approached the plaza piazza sant'antonio around 6pm (it gets dark here around 5:30pm now). It is a little plaza in the old city (citta vecchia) which has some parking spots. I tried to park my car and was waved away. And there was a priest standing in front of the church, outside. They did not appear to have been standing there for long. It looked like they were just getting set up.

Around 7, I was again heading up towards the plaza AGAIN when we were passed by a team heading down the street, towards the vicinity of the Piazza Grande or the castle, we thought. This team was two younger people (early to mid 20s). I think the woman I saw was blond, but not sure. She was definitely pretty and tall - guessing 5'9 or more. The "producer" (ie 4th person in group, not carrying a backpack or camera) stopped her to adjust her shirt or necklace as they walked down the street.

Around 7, I was again heading up towards the plaza AGAIN when we were passed by a team heading down the street, towards the vicinity of the Piazza Grande or the castle, we thought. This team was two younger people (early to mid 20s). I think the woman I saw was blond, but not sure. She was definitely pretty and tall - guessing 5'9 or more. The "producer" (ie 4th person in group, not carrying a backpack or camera) stopped her to adjust her shirt or necklace as they walked down the street.

Because of the TAR14 stuff, I was curious about Destination Unknown and kept track of the videos. Phil was phoning it in of course, but I looked to see if it was all prepared on the same day. So far, it seems that way: the clothes, the lighting (slightly above and to his left) and the backdrop are the same.

At 4am on Wednesday morning, staying up all night in honor of the US Presidential Election, I found myself at Gara de Nord, Bucharest’s primary train station. Standing outside the locked building was a mix of travelers waiting with luggage, teenagers huffing from plastic bags, sanitation workers sweeping, and various hustlers trying to get money from the people who waited. I, myself, had to dodge a couple of leather-jacketed men who insisted they could put me on a bus to wherever I needed to go, Brasov by noon. Later I watched two nearby couples interact with a younger huffer, laughing uncomfortably as he half sang, half shouted something to them. Meanwhile, taxis kept pulling up periodically, and people with bags would try the locked glass doors without luck. Their attempts were understandable, though, because inside the glass doors were other travelers, miraculously inside the warm(er) building even though it was supposed to be closed until 4:30.

These other travelers were, in fact, the cast and crew of the 14th season of The Amazing Race, filming their way through Romania. I looked inside and watched the teams of two flanked by cameramen and production staff. They all seemed unaware of the motley crowd outside those doors. They talked to each other, milled around, and consulted maps. One particular team of young women looked too manicured for such a contest at such an hour. At 4:20am, the ticket counters opened early for them; the crowd outside moved closer to the locked doors. Ten minutes later, the station’s McDonald’s franchise let the cast and crew inside while keeping the public, now allowed in the building, locked outside. Soon these contestants would be headed out of the capital in search of adventure!

And for those of you who are fans of the show, the Romania episode will be full of classics: gymnasts, gypsies, and vampires. Through some connections of mine here, I found out that the cast travels to nearby Bran Castle, engages in a challenge that included coffins and stakes, and visits a gypsy village (possibly in search of a clue). Of course, some of it plays off of the cultural myths about Romania. There is no question that some Romanians are interested in selling vampire kitsch to spook-seeking tourists, regardless of the relative lack of native tradition actually concerning the monsters. Much of the rest of the population at least tolerates it. And The Amazing Race clearly aims to take advantage.

But the show exploits more than the vampire legend. The most intriguing element of The Amazing Race episode in Romania relates to the gypsy village, which was, strangely, a fake. Constructed specially for the show in an area with a relatively low gypsy population, the artificial village was “populated” with ethnic Romanians dressed up in gypsy attire. Yes, even the supposed gypsies were impostors, as authentic as their costumes may have appeared. All this was done for the benefit of a reality television show. And tourism, of course.

Because most countries try to export a symbolic and friendly image of native culture that will lure tourists into spending strong currencies in a bid to purchase access to it all. Australia has promoted koalas, kangaroos, happy indigenous people, and blonds with surfboards leading a laid back life along the beach. Scotland pushes kilts, bagpipes, and Mel-Gibson-as-William-Wallace (not to mention all things whiskey). Romania is certainly not exempt from these kinds of campaigns, and the gypsy village proves just to what lengths people are willing to go. By dressing up ethnic Romanians as gypsy villagers, The Amazing Race and its Romanian collaborators are presenting an idealized image of gypsy culture, one meant to dazzle foreigners with exoticism.

The reality is more fraught. Tensions toward and within the gypsy population in Romania remain strong; prejudices are performed daily in the most progressive communities; divides exist socially and within the government about how to work with this minority group. Debates flourish about how to even provide education for children in gypsy communities. The quaint, friendly, built-to-order gypsy village, with its cast of Romanians in gypsy costumes, couldn’t be more of an idealization of the situation here. It censors the poverty, the alienation, and even the violence that contribute to the gypsy reality in Romania, as well as elsewhere in Eastern Europe.

Myself, I am unqualified to say anything truly meaningful regarding this subject. Except I can’t help but be intrigued by a reality show that not only employs cultural proxies and fakes, but helps to sell a glossy version of what makes up a country like Romania. For my money, I think showing the real Romania would make excellent television; but no, the producers want to keep the glue huffers locked outside and the gypsies lighter skinned. Maybe the danger is that if we, as viewers, saw the reality, we might lose interest in the contestants and the contest itself. After all, what’s amazing about it? People flying all over the world in competition for money? What’s amazing about that? Besides what it excludes.

But the show exploits more than the vampire legend. The most intriguing element of The Amazing Race episode in Romania relates to the gypsy village, which was, strangely, a fake. Constructed specially for the show in an area with a relatively low gypsy population, the artificial village was “populated” with ethnic Romanians dressed up in gypsy attire. Yes, even the supposed gypsies were impostors, as authentic as their costumes may have appeared. All this was done for the benefit of a reality television show. And tourism, of course.

I sort of get why you'd be disappointed, but it doesn't mean TAR is all rigged or anything, they probably just do it to show the countries culture more, you know what I mean? Just like they are having a RB of an Indian festival on this Sunday's episode of TAR13, and it was filmed in May, but in reality that festival takes place in March.

Yes, Michael, but using a fake gypsy village is much more tragic than your example. The gypsies in Romania are predominantly in the Transylvania plains, a minimum 3 hours north of Bucharest. I can understand why World Race Productions may not have wanted to spend the time and have the risk of uncontrollable behavior that could happen in their natural environment. However, to hire essntially actors to impersonate gypsies would be unfortuante. There are doubtless plenty of unemployed actors who are grateful, but it is not the right thing to do. Try some other task; there are plenty that are authentic.

I also have to say that one of the most exciting points of the day was when we saw signs for the show "The Amazing Race." It was being filmed at the palace where the famous Sound of Music gazebo now is. I took a picture of one of the signs that I saw, but there also were about 15 matching white Mercedes out front that were supposed to belong to the people in the amazing race. After I took a picture, an angry man came and put a garbage bag over the sign.

The driver pulled down the window and asked a young Austrian man for directions. I recognized right away that the driver spoke American English, so being the helpful American I am, I pulled around the front of the car to see if I could help. The Austrian man was fishing for his English vocabulary. Both the front and rear driver's side windows were down. A young man was driving, what I guess was his wife or girlfriend was behind him.

"How do you get to Schloss Hellbrunn?" the man asked me. He and the woman were frazzled, amazingly desperate! And they were covered in what looked like an amazing amount blood, guts, and pumpkin rot. But it all looked fake. Plus they had tons of make-up on.

I explained that they needed to turn back onto the major road they had just left, Alpenstraße, and head straight down until they passed underneath and underpass. Then they should take the very next right which would lead them down a wooded country lane.

By the time I had finished my first sentence, out of the car from the front and back passenger seats raced the camera man and the boom (sound) man, and they were both on me. I was good. Amazingly enough, I didn't look into the camera! I put a foot on my peddle to push off and ride away when the boom man caught my eye. He shook his head quickly as if to say, "Don't race off!"

The camera man turned off his camera and the boom man, an American, explained to the Austrian and me that we had to sign a release or this footage couldn't be used.

While we signed the paperwork, the woman in the backseat swore. They were in an amazing rush! The boom man turned to her and said, "Look, I told you. If you ask people questions, we have to do this. If you don't like it, don't ask for help."

"What kind of show is this?" I asked."A travel show," he replied."What channel?" I asked."I'm not sure," he said. Amazing, if that were true!"What's the show called?" I asked.Then he (sort of) came clean. He said, "I can only tell you that it's a pretty popular one!"

Off into the car they went. I wave and they raced off.

So this was some sort of race! Amazing, I thought, that I was caught in the middle of it.

I swore myself to secrecy--this was big stuff--I couldn't tell people about this! In two minutes I was home and spilling my guts to Jenny. Then one of my students came over 15 minutes later to pick up some soup, and I was telling her before she even sat down.

After my student left, Jenny suggested we head to Hellbrunn (only 5 minutes from our apartment) to see what we could see. There's a huge playground there and we promised Nikolas he could play there a bit (he said 40 minutes, and we said about 10--hey, it was getting dark!).

When we got to Hellbrunn, I noticed not one, but three cars that looked like the one I'd seen earlier. They each had numbers in the back window. The highest number I saw was 11.

When we tried to enter the castle grounds, we were immediately forced to make a U-Turn by a staff member. "Das Schloss ist zu wegen Dreharbeit." Closed due to filming...hmmm.

Just then, another white car pulled into the parking lot. A different set of people but with camera and boom men. They held each other's hands and headed right past us through a different door than the main entrance. I wanted to tell them that the path they were taking was a Detour, but I figured it wasn't my place.

In fact, a staff member came up to us a short time later and asked us in German if we'd said anything to the couple. "Nein," we answered. Dang, can't we be friendly?

Jenny decided to take Nikolas down that path to see where the couple was headed. I waited in case more white cars appeared in the parking lot. None did, and soon Jenny was back to tell me that she's seen "things." Well, I wanted to see things, too, so off I went along the path. The pathway was heavily wooded so it was even darker. Up ahead I could see huge lights, the kind you see on film sets. But there was a Roadblock between lights and me: a gate and a staff member. I spoke to the staff member for a moment. I asked him if they were filming an advertisement (playing dumb I was) and he spilled his guts. And while he spilled, I looked through the gate and saw "things."Fast Forward to me catching up with Jenny and Nikolas in the park. We saw bobbing through the trees what looked like a TV camera light. Two women were running together. One was hobbling. The other said, "I'm going ahead a bit," and the other countered with, "OK, go ahead." Off into the park they went, clueless as the day was long.

Satisfied with the afternoon's excitement, we headed home and made a Pit Stop at Rossbräu, a local restaurant. No one recognized me from TV and I didn't tell anyone who I was.

I also have to say that one of the most exciting points of the day was when we saw signs for the show "The Amazing Race." It was being filmed at the palace where the famous Sound of Music gazebo now is. I took a picture of one of the signs that I saw, but there also were about 15 matching white Mercedes out front that were supposed to belong to the people in the amazing race. After I took a picture, an angry man came and put a garbage bag over the sign.

"How do you get to Schloss Hellbrunn?" the man asked me. He and the woman were frazzled, amazingly desperate! And they were covered in what looked like an amazing amount blood, guts, and pumpkin rot. But it all looked fake. Plus they had tons of make-up on.